I think a lot of it depends on how you define it. I have defined myself as doing "social media marketing" and have recently started using the term "inbound marketing" more because I also work with blogging and SEO. The problem is, "inbound marketing" is not a term that the general public and business owners understand. 
 
Additionally, I've found that a lot of the web design companies I've run into really only do web design, and any SEO or Social Media, or even blogging, is sort of an add on...and they don't always know what they are doing. Same goes for marketing and ad agencies. A lot of our local agencies began to offer Social Media as part of their services,but it is a throwaway. And when the economy went south, SM was the area where layoffs began (sadly) and they began to outsource to specialists. 
 
And like you said, Social Media is constantly changing. For that reason, we DO need specialists who can stay on top of the latest changes.

Honestly, this is the first I've heard of an agency specifically devoted to social media. I think there are way too many "specialists" out there that don't have the right qualifications, but a whole agency devoted to social media? Interesting. 
 
When you look at the different categories in the chart, a lot of those really crossover. I mean, what does 'online marketing' really mean these days? A combo of everything?

Brilliantly written and loved the humor! Thank you!! While SM is important it is one tool among many to market yourself and/or company. Before the internet there were advertising agencies that knew how to integrate tools such as TV, radio, and newspaper (remember when those were really the only tools?!) to meet their clients' needs and almost no agency really specialized in just one. When you focus on the customer's success (sorry, a little blatant) you don't segregate. You integrate.

The SoMe "agencies" in our area are mainly web designers that do great page design with absolutely zero over-arching web or even content strategy. It's kind of sad to see businesses paying for this. 
 
BUT... 
 
Businesses are starting to notice I think.  
 
I agree with Ken in that "Inbound" is still a fairly misunderstood term. And some that do understand it on the surface, may think it's all about the social space, when in fact that is only a very small part of the equation. 
 

I think it is really difficult to outsource your social media marketing because how can an outsider write about your company? I do all of our social media myself. Our business is too technical for someone on the outside to write about.

Social Media Marketing is a part of Inbound Marketing so, no I would not, should not cannot offer it as stand alone. I actually did, and it's way too simplistic, if you only offer that. 
 
Simply put because the company owner can do much of that, no real technical knowledge is needed to keep it running, no extra expertise.  
 
The main think Inbound Marketers need to focus on, my take then, is the research behind it, eg. keyword, traffic and campaigns that attract, sell and retain.  
 
I also think that it's a tough one to guarantee many results (especially in smaller circles and for smaller businesses). If anything half the time and somewhere along the line clients will realize a great deal is automated and another part can be done by the receptionist.  
 
And if you're going to give advise and set up extensive campaigns the company has to be big and big on reruns of campaigns for it to be a steady source of income.  

Social media is a tool, a very useful communication tool. if blog is your home, social media is a cocktail party, you can live without cocktail party, but you cannot live without a home.

I loved your article! Calling yourself a social media marketing agency is like fishing in a plastic kiddie pool. If an agency does nothing but Tweet and "Like" things all day, without participating in the brand development and perception, then you might hook all kinds of fish except the ones that make for a good dinner entree. These kids straight of college with a lot of Facebook experience think they have what it takes to successfully market companies, even without any marketing know how.

@Ken Meuller I agree, lots and lots of websites put out by big companies in my local market just dump websites on the net, the most basic of SEO content related planning is omitted and company owners lug around wondering why their websites are not found.  
 
I'm gearing towards focusing more on that, also with the websites I design for new customers. Although you have the constant battle of educating the clients. Some what inspirational content that has zero to do with their core activities and what they'd need to be found for and then they refuse to do any other research related to their position in the market online.

Thought provoking! Our firm offers cost effective Web2.0 PR and Social Media Marketing campaigns in the B2B sector, mostly to technology, biotechnology and industrial companies.  
 
 
 
We have grown significantly over the past few years because influential B2B customers want to interact with peers and companies online. It is a simple as that – you go where the customers are. 
 
 
 
Our clients want us to be on top of and help generate those conversations because they generate leads, accelerate sales cycles and build brand awareness. 
 
 
 
The trick, that justifies a dedicated agency, is to mount strategically driven campaigns that integrate with direct selling and marketing efforts.  
 
 
 
A savvy niche agency can deliver that value building on a deep understanding of the rapidly evolving social media space. 
 
 
 
Howard Oliver 
 
CEO  
 
What If What Next

Social media can't exist by itself. It must be a way to spread the content that is created as part of an inbound marketing strategy. In my mind, keyword research first, content creation second, and social media to spread that content.

Hating on nebulously-defined buzzwords is usually valid, but you have to understand that these agencies exist is because the market for them to be there exists. 
 
I recently visited a vendor who did some work on my wedding and he asked my for some social media advice. I explained to him very briefly what he could do on twitter, facebook and whatnot and he looks at me and says: "I already do all that stuff, what's the special magic trick to get a lot of followers and use this for promotion." 
 
Web marketing people understand that social media is just a tool to distribute content and engage your audience. Clients do not yet understand how little an expert knows and this creates a market for people who wish to be specialists in things that aren't so special. 
 
If the market exists, the business exists. We can't hate on simple economics.

I think it's rather simplistic if you think that a Social Media agency merely tweets and "likes" all day. I actually don't tweet for any of my clients. I refuse to. A big part of what I do is help set them up, as well as educate them on HOW to properly use the tools of inbound marketing. And then I come along side them on a regular basis helping them come up with ideas, integrate inbound marketing into their overall marketing plan, and stay on top of what is current in Social Media.  
 
All you have to do is look at what folks in companies both large and small are doing. I still see businesses setting up their businesses on Facebook personal profiles, rather than a proper business page. I still seem them running contests that are a violation of FB's TOS. I still see them treating their social properties like static web pages. 
 
And I'm a firm believer that the messaging and content is best done by in-house employees. 
 
A lot of it comes down to how you define social media, and what your view of it is.

I think the most important thing to realize is that most people get excited about social media because they see an opportunity with it... but they don't realize that it is just a tool, as anything else. 
 
When a neat new tool arrives, opportunistic thinkers will try to capitalize. Hence, the thousands of people who think they are social media experts just because they know how to automate twitter following and get a good klout score. 
 
Anyone in this industry who has created enduring success knows that it is strategic thinking, not opportunistic, that creates results. 
 
The tools will change, and change rapidly. Those who are caught up in the hype of the tools will become irrelevant when the tools change, or have another steep learning curve when new ones are introduced. 
 
Strategic thinkers realize that success is an issue higher than the tools, and the tools are just a part of an overall plan... and no matter how well someone uses the tools, if they don't understand the buyer psychology and strategic implementation, they will just be wasting their customer's money.

Pete, this is quite an interesting post. Part of the problem with highly specialized offerings is the tendency to view the world through a narrow prism. It's the old "If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail" syndrome. Social media is an integral part of creating awareness, generating leads and propogating content, but it is only a vehicle to achieve the objectives, it is not an objective itself.

SoMe services offerings are not, cannot be and should never be a complete service set. there is too much other associated strategy to a successful web campaign. 
 
 
 
that said SoMe is a hot enough topic that it gets many doors to open and allows a larger conversation about the interconnectedness of web marketing to happen. 
 
 
 
There is however real value to companies that can produce unique content, build a social campaign to distribute said content and integrate with on and offline response channels to drive sales. 
 
 
 
This does beg the question how long will SEO/SEM be it's own independent niche/ eventually it will get swallowed up by traditional agencies and become a part of their over arching campaign strategies. or the market will still support specialist firms because it allows for better focus. 
 
 
 

You are saying what 98% people are thinking - And social agencies springing up everywhere now reminds me of the time that business process re-engineering was all the talk of business improvement - It seemed that suddenly you could not move for small organisations wanting to help in the delivering of process realignment - But the big rub was the same....The output being fixed through the feed business adjustment is the issue - rather than focusing upon feed and expecting miracles everywhere - they didn't happen then and they will not happen today until the key capabilities and the core competencies are examined for faults and / or alternative benchmarking - then you know why the feed is being adjusted.

I agree with you 100%, no one should create a social media marketing agency. I think one of the best parts about social media marketing is that it is a free tactic. You don't have to put in a lot of money, you just have to put in time. No one should make money off something that is supposed to be free!

Katy: Time is money....

We offer social media along with blogging as an ongoing service. It's reaching the point where people look for companies on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, and feel less confident of the company if they're not represented. Yet we have clients who don't feel that Tweeting is the best use of their time -- or the time of anyone in their organization. One client told me that it takes her 40 minutes to think of anything to tweet. It's a lot more cost-effective for her to hire a pro.  
While I agree that social media isn't a complete marketing strategy, it makes sense to hire people to do it. Unless you also insist that CEOs model for their own commercials, sing their own jingles, and write their own copy, there's no need to insist that social media be done in-house. 

Having worked and consulted for large and established consumer-oriented companies, I've noticed that there is a tendency to seek out agency-specialists. That is, agencies that specialize in one particular thing (e.g. PR, Interactive, Package Design, etc.).  
 
 
 
The people juggling their company or brand's entire marketing portfolio seek out partners they know will do the job right. While social media seems like a small drop in the greater marketing bucket, it is an important responsibility and perhaps better left to a specialist than someone who does not have the time or knack to handle it.

I feel as though the future of the marketing firm, at least from an inbound marketing perspective, will be completely centered around content & media.  
 
Creating and syndicating content. Relationships with new media sources. Creative paid sponsorships. A blend of PR, advertising and marketing.  
 
What will it be called? 
 
Marketing firm? 
Content Creation firm? 
 
I dunno...but I agree...it certainly won't be social media marketing.

With several 'static' forms of PR and marketing/advertising including newspapers, television, radio, periodicals with a set style and method of engagement compared to the Internet that is evolving and still difficult to define there is a strong desire to develop labels for the scary world of communicating with the prospect or customer. Indeed being 'social' is a basic element of human communication. However to many companies new to the Internet the concept of two way communication, engagement, much like a shopkeeper might have done in the days of sail. We had developed into a society of anti social marketing by way of the weaknesses of media available and the walls created by cars and cubicles. There is nothing really new to social media, Socialization has mearly joined the Internet. However if they (the prospect) wants to call it 'flying nun' then I say go for it and start a business. You can turn a darker shade of purple trying to get the unknowing to understand. That's been my experience.

An agency shouldn't be a SMMA if their main service is to actually implement campaigns and act as the client, but if they are consulting and doing strategy development I think a SMMA could do very well and provide value for it's client, especially if they find a niche industry for local businesses that are found nationally.

Sorry, I thought blogging *was* a social media?

Glad to hear this perspective being expressed. I for one (HubSpot Partner) include social media in my services portfolio but prefer to outsource the setup and executions. In your chart, Pete I would categorize B2B Inbound as primarily focused on "content marketing." However, I'd like to see you add "lead generation" services to the list. That's essentially what I see my purpose and focus to be on.

I rarely take a social media marketing agency or "expert" seriously. Social media should be part of the marketing mix and it is of great value to be able to consult and support your clients efforts with knowledge in the ever changing realm of social media. Although social is a media that cannot be ignored, I concur, this is not a solo strength to build a business or reputation on.

I consider myself a social media consultant - helping small businesses figure out how to use the tools and tie it to their traditional marketing. I also do video content for them - because the hardest thing for them to figure out it - what do I say now?

Great. More ammo for the folks who lambaste marketing types for being superficial fad followers. I've been around long enough to remember the '80s when everybody and his brother-in-law wanted to be The Zero Defect Company. After that, you had to "Re-engineer" yourself and be a Six-Sigma Company. Marketing dweebs fail their organizations (and their clients) when they succumb to the temptation of reflexively telling them (the clients) what they (the dweebs) believe the clients want to hear, rather than telling them what they need to know. Such as where the most qualified leads can be found. To paraphrase Dean Wormer in "Animal House": Scared and stupid is no way to do business.

Here's the challenge with the way I see web shops and PR agencies and traditional marketing firms claiming social media marketing to be a core service offering - they lack humans who operate the tools. 
 
Most companies today will outsource at least a position of their human communication. Thus, we have the contact and call center industry. They use telephones and now sometimes chat. 
 
To me, the future of social media marketing lies in the firms that can provide humans as resources, not with the companies that build websites and facebook pages and social networks. 
 
Creating content is only one part of the game. Responding to the conversations the content creates is where the real value lies for businesses who want to use social media. 
 
It's about the human beings. Always has been... 
 

Great article! But I truly believe that a properly trained and experienced social media marketing specialist would be an asset to many businesses. I believe that most businesses will struggle to survive without a social media component to their marketing, but many do not have the resources or time to do it themselves.

Nice article! I strongly believe in social media, but only if it's part of a crossmedia internetstrategy. I had a social marketing company for the last 4 years, but since the beginning of 2010 I work together with a Direct marketing organisation that offers Emailmarketing, Application development etc.etc.

It's surprising to me, but that's what we are finding as well - website creators are not focused on SEO, just the look and feel of the website. Lot's of opportunity to use Hubspot to make the website drive sales.

Great article Pete, I often scan articles and Im sure I miss a lot of important stuff, but you engaged me untill the end. And yes we need more SMMA. Why? The demand is there.

We started one and are killing it...

I think the market drives the demand for the service. If a company/person is willing to pay to have their social media written, managed, maintained, and measured for them, more power to the agencies that provide it. Everything is market driven. End-o-story. :)

I have to disagree. We live in an era of specialists. SEO professionals aren't expected to generate the copy for the pages they're optimizing - bookkeepers aren't expected to help generate the money that they're managing.  
 
Time is money, and if someone who truly understands social media can create a strategy and implement to grow the clients business, and the cost for the social media expert is less than the income generated, the client wins. 
 
That being said, I don't think just anyone *should* start a social media agency. Social media is way more than just "Liking" pages on behalf of a client (in fact, why have so many people used that example? I rarely "Like" other pages as part of a social media strategy for clients). When people just hire on price, not from referrals or an agency/person showing expertise, they risk getting low-quality support. Just like web design, SEO, copywriting, or anything else. It's just that when something so big and new comes along, and most businesses don't understand it, there's the potential for someone with just a little bit of knowledge to come along and promise results they can't necessarily deliver.

I deliver social media marketing services to businesses. I find what I have to offer very useful for companies. Most companies are outsourcing because they either do not know where to get started, where they need to be, or don't have the time. I don't just offer social media. I also offer an internet/inbound marketing plan as well as website assessments. But mainly social media. 
 
 
 
When it comes to social media marketing, I'm not just talking bout posting a profile. I'm talking about marketing on social media and marketing your social media in your other marketing.  
 
 
 
You can send out a weekly or monthly email but you will get more up to date info on your social media pages out to your audiences as well as that audience totally opting into your company to receive all your information 24/7. You can market everything on your social media pages as well as putting your social pages in your print, emails, on your website, etc. It's a whole strategy to get them coming back to you and to get new customers to opt into you. 
 
 
 
If you research the company you are working you and know their audience you can be outstanding as an outsource. As well as having meetings with your company client to know what is new and what we are going to be posting and what voice we want to have in the social networks. 
 
 
 
What if I was a book company looking to get into social media? I'd probably be asking to get onto twitter and facebook because that's what I know, but there are several social media sites dedicated just to books. There are over 100 social media sites out there. Would the typical company know that they need to be on these 3 or 4 book social networks? Probably not and probably never even heard of them. But I have and I can help them choose where they need to be and create a whole strategy of where and how to market. 
 
 
 
There are other things to offer with social media as well. I offer monitoring services for if they are already up but don't have the time to monitor everything. I offer social media plans. I can develop the plan and let them take it back to the office and execute it themselves. I also offer training so they can learn how to get set up and do it themselves.  
 
 
 
There are a lof of variety of services you can offer here. 
 

We are all on a path towards seamless collaboration and problem solving using the power of the search engines, social media and the new tools that let people work together without being physically present. Social media automates a big part of this, and there are lots of opportunities to market and monetize with it, but only one part of the equation.

Wow, so many perspectives here - many of which I agree and disagree. But it is food for thought. 
 
I manage campaigns for Tuvel Communications, which is digital communications and marketing firm. Social media marketing services are a huge part of what we offer, but that's what it is - a part of a greater whole. We're in the business of building relationships, which is so much more than just tweeting and hitting the "Like" button all day - and I really want people to open their eyes to the fact that social media marketing isn't all about Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. 
 
I'm of the perception that an agency can be built on social media marketing services, but to be a successful agency in that space, it all comes down to what it is offering. A robust social media marketing offering will consist of  
*strategy development  
*metrics development 
*integration with other marketing channels 
*set-up, management and monitoring 
*relationship-building with social media influencers 
*possible client training 
 
This is what Tuvel Communications does for a number of large association, non-profit and B2B clients, and we've built an agency on it. We deliver results and have documented successes in our case studies.

i think ya'll oversimplify social media quite a bit. it's not about writing content and it's not about setting up a fanpage. sm adds a whole range of tools to the corporate marketing communications toolbox - and how many people or firms really know how to use them strategically? for the long haul? with the ressources they have? and how much sense does it make for an agency to continue to offer the whole range of tools when it's become nearly impossible to keep on top of all possible communications channels? it is indeed the age of specialization and a good specialist will always be needed. that said, i also don't believe that anyone should just pronounce themselves as a sm specialist, if the former specialty was just setting up websites....

I think there should be social media agencies for those who want to get involved in SM but do not have the time. not only will it create more jobs but it will help businesses who do not have marketing know how or know about software like Hubspot.

Pete, 
 
I agree with the spirit of your blog post, especially in considering that the low barrier of entry to social media, and rightfully perceived potential upside, has created a whole new generation of people (or web design/SEO/PR/ad agencies and firms) who have created "social media marketing agencies" as your chart suggests. 
 
I do think that the idea of a social media marketing agency is bizarre because social media does not operate in a vacuum and needs to be deeply integrated with not only marketing strategy, but also corporate objectives throughout the organization. If you called it a Social Media Agency I could better understand. 
 
The second point is that social media needs to be authentic, and therefore it ideally shouldn't be outsourced to an agency and kept in-house. I tell this to all of my clients, and even though it's not a healthy business model, it's the truth! 
 
What do companies need then? They need education, training, and most of all strategy. Once they understand the potential for social media and have a social media strategy in place, fully incorporated and aligned with their marketing and corporate objectives, they can then make the strategic decision to hire someone or have an internal employee do the job on the day-to-day engagement side. 
 
That being said, some companies would rather outsource the "implementation" or engagement piece because they lack the people, budget, or time to do so themselves. This is a valid business decision to make. 
 
I label my company Windmills Marketing, which I have been describing above, as a "Social Media Strategic Consultancy" because I concentrate on the strategy, can also help with consultation on the education and training, and furthermore do offer social media implementation services as an optional piece. But I don't consider that a "Social Media Marketing Agency" because the emphasis is on strategy and consultation and is not necessarily limited to marketing. 
 
Pete, with the advent of social media and the different levels of expertise that companies have or don't have in it, there is a need for education and utilizing 3rd party expertise to help get them up to speed. I hope you will agree that while the term "Social Media Marketing Agency" may be a little weird, there is a role for specialists like myself and others that have commented on this post to help get customers up to speed in social media and to do perform additional services to them if they don't have the resources. 
 
@NealSchaffer

I wasn't aware there were agencies specifically devoted to social media marketing....

The reader needs to know context in order to accurately perceive and judge this post as credible or not. 
 
How many agencies completed your application form? Knowing this would help readers better understand the true "significance" of the return rate for that answer. Did 100 "agencies" respond? If so, then only 14 agencies responded with that specific answer. 
 
What is the average size of all the "agencies" that applied for your training? An international agency with 5,000 employees and offices around the globe? Or a principal-owner (one employee) working out of their home office? 
 
And what is the specific role of the "agency" person who completed your application? Owner-principal? Chief executive? Chief Marketing Officer? Account manager? Newsletter editor? How many years of experience do they have in the social media field? Or marketing? What is their highest education level? This information would help the reader better understand the credibility of the applicants overall.  
 
Would you please define the target audience for your training program? What methods of communication are you using to reach the target audience(s)? When was your new training program launched? The reader needs a bit more information about the mechanics of the "newly launched training program." 
 
Were there controlled choices for "primary service offering," or was that an uncontrolled, "fill-in-the-blank" question? Again, knowing this would help the reader better understand context and whether this post is credible or not. 
 
While you may think your information was noteworthy enough to merit this post -- and it might have been had this post been under your own personal blog -- this post is attached to a corporate blog. At Hubspot, the corporate blog would belong to either the corporate communication or marketing folks. Was your post not reviewed before it was published? To have someone write an incomplete post that risks Hubspot's credibility and reputation is by itself a red flag. 
 
Sounds like you wanted to create some buzz about your training program and took the easy way out (which is a joke, it is the hard way) and wrote a post about some application result without analyzing the complete body of information received or including the most basic information for context.

We actually have more interest than we can handle, Jay. There were 1,000+ applicants to the training program. We also have 45k marketing agencies who have opted in via our website long before we wrote this post.  
 
I also know what their roles and their company size are for each applicant. I have sliced and diced the data. But, I didn't think that level of detail was necessary to show that there are lots of people that are jumping on the social media bandwagon.  
 
At HubSpot, we are transparent and enjoy heated debates internally and publicly. The post was reviewed by our blog editor. The data was reviewed by 10 of my peers. We're confident that it's an accurate representation of the marketing services industry. But, we're open to seeing and sharing anyone else's data too, if their data says something different.  
 
Further, most of my post asked questions, of which more than 50 people weighed in on - with constructive thoughts. Very little of what I wrote were statements or conclusions. Some of the comments have made me think twice. I'm probably going to take excerpts and talk about what kind of 'social media marketing' services are being offered by people. While you may think this tarnished HubSpot's reputation, it seems like we provided a good forum to discuss the issues.